ALL OF THEM!!! Goblin 20 Grandmaster DM/10 Charismatic Salesman/10 College Professer/4 Average Lad/6 King

Hey you lot and thank you for joining me in The Temple Of Elemental Evil. Though our party currently missing one member I am willing to start this with just you six there are a few tings that need to be covered.

>Your timezones
>Preference on hp rolls (I know rolling in 1st ed can be a pain if any has an alternative idea I am listening)
>Character relations (Either any back story you may have with other characters or what your character thinks of them etc. The party has been together for 3 days at the start of thy adventure.)
>When giving combat actions include total THAC0 mod with currently equipped weapon, Ac, Hp current and max and of course your action.
>I make ALL of your rolls just to make it clear.

DM's question of rules:
I have a question I am unsure of: does the party roll initiative each turn or only round one?

I hope we all have a good one THANK YOU!

The six of you have been called to meet personally with the noble Lord the Viscount of Verbobonc this is an honor that few are granted. But this meeting is not one of pleasantries but business, he assigns you to an important task. The Viscount has heard of the growing bandit sources to the east and sends you to aid the village in finding the source of the malevolence. He only gives you a map and six mount fit for your size and explains nothing further nor why it was you he summoned. "You are to leave immediately" he says "and don't worry there will be plenty of time to get to know one another" With little choice in the manner you gathered your supplies bought what meager equipment yo could afford and head for the road to Hommlet. The three days trip was spent quietly and lasted little time you have had little in the ways of conversation with your new peers and time passes quickly.

Your party is now approaching the Village of Hommlet, having ridden up from lands of the Wild Coast. You are poorly mounted, badly equipped, and have no large sums of cash. In fact, all you have is what you wear and what you ride, plus the few coins that are hidden in purses and pockets. What you do possess in quantity, though, is daring and desire to become wealthy and famous. Thus your group comes to Hommlet to learn. Is this indeed a place for adventurers to seek their fortunes? You all hope, of course, to gain riches and make names for yourselves. The outcome of this is uncertain, but your skill and daring, along with a good measure of luck, will be the main ingredients of what follows, be it for weal or woe. The small community at the crossroads is a completely unknown quantity. What is there? Who will be encountered? Where should you go? These are your first explorations and encounters, so chance may dictate as much as intelligence. Will outsiders be shunned? Are the reports true — is the whole community engaged in evil practices? Are the folk here bumpkins, easily duped? Does a curse lay upon those who dare to venture into the lands which were once the Temple's? All of these questions will soon be answered. The dusty, rutted road is lined with closely-grown hedges of brambles and shrubs. Here and there it cuts through a copse or crosses a rivulet. To either hand, forest and meadow have given way to field and orchard. A small herd of kine graze nearby, and a distant hill is dotted with the wand stone chimneys with thin plumes of blue smoke rising from them. A road angles west into the hill country, and to either side of the road ahead are barns and buildings — Hommlet at last!

>Eastern
>Not sure. Rolling is fine for me, except if I roll less than average...then it's not ok. ;-)
>I'm willing to know any of the other characters that would make sense.
>np
>You make ALL of our rolls? We don't get to roll?

Eastern for me- you can roll all my rolls even my hp!
Rolling initiative every round seems silly now that I look back at it--why do it more than once.
Old school I think wizard types pick one of dart, dagger, staff -- dagger for me as I can throw and slash with it.
Finally, Gnobby is doing 'community service' for a misunderstanding over the alleged theft and swindling of goods at a traveling carnival.

ALL OF THEM!!! Goblin 20 Grandmaster DM/10 Charismatic Salesman/10 College Professer/4 Average Lad/6 King

If anyone has not please oh please read through all of chapter three in the Osric pdf very useful stuff be there especially in combat section which can get a bit tricky especially for me.

On second thought make your own rolls for combat and spell hp etc. I will roll init surprise and such makes more sense this way now that I think about it.

Also some home rules here:
Speed factor/segments

Like how spells take _segments to cast so does striking with your blade.
For e.g. Cure light takes 5 segments to complete casting you start on party init and end after 5 segment casting is complete and lets say a striking with a shortsword takes one segment and party init is 2 segment shortsword strikes on segment 3 spell on 7. All moving is done on party init different weapons have a different "speed factor" based mostly on weight and size of said weapon.

All my home games I roll 2 dice for HP and take the highest. (NOTE: I also roll an extra die for for healing spells, and discard the lowest as well. Nothing sux more than only having 1 healing spell, and rolling a 1. This still allows low rolls, but decreases the chances.)

Will work on background on the plant tomorrow. Has to do with being blamed for the infiltration and destruction of his former guild, and needing to find somewhere to lay low.

>Eastern Time Zone
>I've always liked the max hp a level 1 idea
>My backstory has me meeting the rest of the gang at the Viscount's estate, so everyone's new to her. That said, she's a friendly sort , for an elf :)
>np
>no problem if you want to roll everything. I've seen it all in that respect.

> CST
> Back in the good ol' days of 2nd Edition, I gave everyone max HP at creation, and made them roll addtional hit points per level. If they didn't like what they got, they could have me reroll their HP, but they had to take whatever I rolled.
> Since this is supposed to be a love letter to 1st Edition, I say we go for a new initiative every round.
> As for knowing others, I'm sort of in the same boat as Tarmin. I might have run across one or two of you independently, but this'd be the first time we'd worked together.

ALL OF THEM!!! Goblin 20 Grandmaster DM/10 Charismatic Salesman/10 College Professer/4 Average Lad/6 King

Now that all have posted in said thread I have decided that We should go with max hp 1st level and you have one reroll on hp per level but must take rerolled number. In have no problem with starting now but am very busy this and next week so my posting may be a bit slow at first in any case give me a few minutes and we shall start.

Well met everyone. Introductions seem to be in order although cranford knows me pretty well.

I am your uber cleric of Heironeous (with the best stats I have ever rolled). Also a UK house husband with two youngsters (boy - 5, girl - 2) and a lovely wife.

Gaming wise I've played on the boards for 5 years until last march and then RL (daughter teething = no sleep) led to a break until now. This is the second game I have joined and if all goes well the last. After that I may decide to start one of my own. Avid Greyhawker and GM, I've run TOEE many years ago and cannot wait to visit the Moathouse. Also I have started to write for Raging Swan Press in my spare time. The publisher is a major fan of Greyhawk and a good friend, he liked Wareagle's map of Hommlet alot.

Good to have you French Wolf. I agree your stats may seem wasted on a cleric, but we really need a cleric. I have been on the boards only a short time, but have played for many years. I'd be interested in joining anything you decide to run.

I always wanted to see someone try to bring back something like a series of old modules B2;L1-L4;G1-G3;D1-D3;Q1 and do an adventure path from the old classics. I also really enjoyed N1 too--that could replace B2 as a start.

Can you believe Wareagle made me be a gnome to play an illusionist? I think that was my favorite old school class along with paladins. Actually, I love gnomes, it was no great sacrifice.

ALL OF THEM!!! Goblin 20 Grandmaster DM/10 Charismatic Salesman/10 College Professer/4 Average Lad/6 King

Much appreciated Anselth, I give you my thanks for keeping the game going just to let you know I had changed a few things here or there then what it said in the book, like some of the NPC's roles etc, just thought I should warn you and hope that soon I can get back to the boards.

Should I open up recruitment again, or are you folks comfortable with the party makeup as is? I can continue to run Pettry as an NPC as well, if you all want to keep an arcanist around, while I try to fill his role with a new PC.

Look for a new game post early next week. Hopefully I'll be able to get one up Sunday, but if it's not up by then, one will be forthcoming. I will try to get two DM posts up per evening. I know I do post here during the day, but you're unlikely to see a DM post during the day because I don't have access to books.

Feel free to use the discussion forum to critique my pacing or DM style, as well as post any questions on rulings or whatnot...I have a pretty thick skin and want you all to enjoy the game, so I will adjust as necessary to that end. Maps will come, but I don't have any software or experience, so it may take some time before I get that down pat.

Any questions, comments, screams of terror, just let me know. Thanks all for trusting me, and I hope you have a good time!

One more thing: Thank you Wareagle for getting this started. We've got a good group together, thanks to you taking the time to start this up.

Andre, having read through the adventure, I'm going to keep Pettry around for now, but push him to the background. I think the early adventures were designed for bigger parties than we've become accustomed to over the years, but PbP doesn't lend itself to a large party.

I think once per day should be good, since I won't be able to really post detailed updates more often than that myself, though I'll throw up brief RP posts when I can as often as seems necessary.

I'm on the east coast, so you can generally expect my main post somewhere in the neighborhood of 6-8pm EST.

Once combat rolls around, I'd like everyone to post their action and rolls for the round in a spoiler, and I'll resolve them all in initiative order. If your action wouldn't happen, ie, the target is dead, I'll move it to the closest threat unless you specify a secondary target, though I will ask for confirmation if we're talking about something not easily replenished, like a spell. Hopefully this will keep combat rolling along without getting bogged down in resolving each action before the next person acts. Another option is that you can specifically ask me to resolve actions prior to yours before deciding on your action when the situation will change your action significantly.

Hello all, I was very interested in joining your campaign if I could, I am not sure if there is still room, I have not played an online game before but I am responsible and I can promise to post at least 4 to 6 times a week.

If there is still room and there were no reservations on my joining I would like to play either a Grey or High Elf Magic-User/Cleric of Solonor Thelandira or a Magic-User/Ranger (a class combination allowed in Unearthed Arcana).

Did I miss the character creation section for the game? Is weapon specialization allowed?

>EST. But I get off work late, and I would post very early in the mornings before I go to bed.

>How about the best of two rolls for hit points? Healing is such a premium in AD&D! May I make a small suggestion that we have as a house rule in games I have played? PC's with high constitution get their Con mod added to how much they can sustain to their negative hit point total. So a Thief with a Con 15 can last until -11 and Dwarf Fighter with a Con 18 could last until - 14, just a possible suggestion.

>Character relations (I can see myself as a friend or contemporary of Tarmin)

>When giving combat actions include total THAC0 mod with currently equipped weapon, Ac, Hp current and max and of course your action. (I don't think I understand this fully)

>I make ALL of your rolls just to make it clear. (Also, there will be times I will post via phone and I am not sure how to make rolls using the Paizo dice rollers, I am completely fine by rolling and using an honor system or having the DM make my rolls.)

Thank you for your consideration and I hope you guys have a peachy game with or without me!

Kate, go ahead and roll up a character - you can talk to Tarmin about being related, otherwise I'll start you as a traveller in the Inn. Since you want to play a magic user of some sort, it'll allow me to do away with the NPC that started out as my PC. We're using the free OSRIC rules - they're similar to 1st edition, though I haven't had a chance to compare them to my players' guide. The .pdf can be found here: http://www.knights-n-knaves.com/osric/

I have no problems with weapon specialization, though it's only available to Fighters. Though MU/Cleric and MU/Ranger are not allowed under the OSRIC rules, I'm inclined to allow them here, as I've always thought that the class restrictions were a bit arbitrary. Not to mention the group could use more magic and/or healing.

One change I'm going to make, and this applies to everyone, is full HP at each level. So don't bother rolling HP. Everyone else, bump to max if you don't have max HP already.

Everything else needs to be rolled for - stats, gold, MU spells, etc. Wareagle allowed four rerolls if you want to raise stats, gold, whatever, so don't forget to use them.

As far as some of the bulleted points:

No worries about post time. as long as you're actively posting, I can adjust accordingly.

Your house rule regarding negative HP is a good one, I will implement that.

You will roll your attacks and any rolls other than suprise and initiative. I'll do init order for all parties involved. If you or anyone else wants me to roll for you due to phone, just say so in the spoiler post with your action. I hope this clears things up. I'm going to post a sumup post of rules changes next so those who didn't read this wall of text will catch them.

Just my two cents, weapon specialization was created to make fighters worth playing. Allowing other classes to have it takes away their only advantage (probably explaining why we have no fighter to start, but a paladin and a ranger).

Thank you DM Anselth! I appreciate getting a chance to play, this is my first pbp.

I did some digging and I think I found the link to the original character creation page. I guess there was a DM switch that's why I could not find the character creation rules on your listed posts page. I was going crazy trying to find it that way. Horrible search skills!

I still need help trying to figure out how to use the dice roller, is there a page where I can go to? I am sorry I am new to this. If you want to hand roll my scores that's fine (just don't roll too low : ) I am sorry I am adding a level of difficulty). I will be happy to use the dice roller once I figure out how to roll 4D6 on it - I promise I am a quick study! Thanks for your patience.

Also did you see the link for Solonor that was in my original post?

Since Rangers can in your game can not specialize (they could in Unearthed Arcana) I would like to play a Grey Elf Magic-User/Cleric of Solonor Thelandira. She is a scout/tracker from the Elven Kingdom of Celene, a junior member of the Order of the Hart who was sent by the Elven Queen's advisors to gather information on the rumors of the resurgence of banditry and turmoil in the area around Homlet.

I wanted to see if you would please allow the Priest Class I have tanken from 2nd edition. I gave up the ability to Turn Undead, have very limited armor and limited spell selection in favor of a more 'Elven god of the Hunt' feel, but with bow bonuses. Please tweak or drop anything you feel is over powered! Basically it boils down to this - it's a lesser Cleric who can use a bow! LOL

Since my Magic-User half will only have a single spell per day in was thinking I would be able to support the party with some missile fire.

And I am fine with your ruling on no weapon specialization.

Spoiler:

Elven Bows
If used as an emergency melee weapon, the elven bow acts as a staff, causing 1d6 points of damage to S- or M-sized creatures, 1d3 to L-sized or larger creatures. Elven bows weigh 5 pounds and typically cost 150 gp.

Elven Long Knives
Basically short swords but can be used for both Piercing and Slashing. Can not be thrown. Normally used as a paired set of two.

While most rangers in Solonor's service are Wood elves or Moon elves, elves and half-elves of every subrace are called to be specialty priests of Solonor's clergy.

• Rangers in Solonor's service, whether they are elves or halfelves, are allowed to multiclass as cleric/rangers.

Thanks for taking the max negative hit point house rule into consideration, I hope we don't need to use it often!

One last question regarding that, to 'stabilize' another PC, back in 1st Ed it was automatic, no rolls were needed but it did require 'an active action for an active PC to bind the wounds of the fallen PC', is that how you will rule it?

@French Wolf: thanks for the well wishes!

@Chainmail: in 1st Edition Unearthed Arcana Rangers were allowed to specialize in any bow, any one handed sword, spears and hand axes. Paladins did not get this benefit. But If Anselth does not want to have Ranger's to have access to this for game balance I am quite happy to just play a Magic-User/Cleric.

I still remember when unearthed arcana came out. It reminds me of the Pathfinder APG, a little 'controversial'. I do not know if the summoner of the APG or the barbarian of UE where more 'controversial' relative to the other classes they were expected to coexist with.

Anyway, love gray elves. Cleric/magic-user multiclass is one of the best. Any weapons skills quickly become OBE as the great spell selection at higher levels take over.